Summer Programs

Stay engaged in immersive speech & language therapy programs all summer long!

Help your child or young adult improve his/her ability to communicate, pay attention, comprehend, read, write, remember and socialize with others at Pediatric Speech and Language Specialists. Our regular services are available year round! Should you want summer help or want to add to your therapy plan, these summer programs may be just what your child needs!

Our innovative, research-based summer programs include but are not limited to:

Kamp Talk a’Lot

Our cutting-edge program helps children ages 4 to 11 with social learning and communication challenges. Students learn how to work as part of a group, think flexibly and “go with the flow”, understand how others perceive them, problem solve, develop effective communication skills, regulate emotions, understand the “hidden rules” and learn how to initiate and sustain conversation. Groups are formed based on age, skill level, and compatibility.

Pediatric Speech and Language Specialists is pleased to present Kamp Talk A’lot! Kamp Talk A’lot is a social communication program for children between the ages of four and eleven held each summer in sunny Scottsdale, Arizona. We have adequate space for an indoor “motor room” (it can be 115 degrees outside!) and even a play area for “water day”. The sole focus of Kamp Talk A’lot is social communication! While the children are there to have fun, at this summer day camp, our goal is to improve the social communication and social cognitive skills for each and every child. This camp developed out of a strong need in our community to address social-communicative interaction in an intensive manner.

We work on social cognition and social communication so that children can better learn to cooperate with their peers and form friendships. Children are placed in age appropriate groups and developmentally appropriate social concepts and skills are learned. The following skills may be addressed:

Increasing Self-Awareness
Identifying Expected Social Behaviors
Understanding the Effect of One’s Behavior on Others
Thinking Flexibly
Perspective Taking
Understanding Hidden Social Rules
Reading Social Cues
Listening Attentively
How to Develop Friendships

Communication Skills

Asking and Answering Questions
Staying on Topic
Switching Topics
Processing of Information
Formulation and Sequencing of Thoughts in Conversations
Reasoning and Problem Solving

Cooperating With Peers

Negotiating with Peers
Being a Good Leader and Participant
Taking Turns
Good Sportsmanship
Responding To Teasing

Kamp Talk A’lot is an innovative program for children designed to help children with social communication challenges gain knowledge about how to use language more appropriately for interactive communication. Kamp Talk A’lot is a positive and fun experience where skills are learned and practiced, friends are made, and new doors in the world of communication are opened for each child.

Summer Reading Boost

Does your child guess at words and have trouble sounding out words when reading? Does your child skip words when reading or read the same word different ways when it is in the same paragraph? Does your child have trouble remembering the visual patterns for spelling? Is your child a good reader but has trouble understanding what they have read? It may be time for intensive summer reading therapy! We use nationally recognized, multi-sensory reading programs that target the needs of students who have been unsuccessful with other school reading programs or those who still have gaps in their decoding or spelling abilities.

Does your child guess at words and have trouble sounding out words when reading?

Many children can not “crack the code” to figure out the rules for reading. These children lack awareness of sounds in words, the order of the sounds and sequence of syllables. They have a weakness in phonological awareness or the ability to extract the sounds out of words.

Does your child skip words when reading or have difficulty remembering the visual pattern of words for spelling?

This ability to remember the visual patterns of words is necessary for rapidly processing sounds in words is symbol imagery. It is essential for spelling and sight word recognition. Without good symbol imagery for sounds in words, the reader has a slower reading rate and poor reading fluency.

Does your child read well, but have difficulty remembering or understanding what they have read?

Your child may feel as if what they have read goes “in one ear and out the other”. They may be forced to read and re-read to get the main idea and details of their reading material. Your child may not be able to read for meaning because they are unable to form the visual images from what they have read. Visualization skills are directly related to language comprehension for both reading and listening skills. Sensory information connects language and thought, helping the individual to create mental images required for comprehension. Additionally, vocabulary, understanding of grammar and syntax, and semantics may also play a role in reading comprehension challenges!

We see the reading process as a jigsaw puzzle and use a multisensory approach to discover how to put the reading puzzle together. Our reading intervention programs are designed to strengthen your child’s skills. Call for a summer placement now!

Fast ForWord® Language and Reading Programs

A research-based series of computer exercises to develop and strengthen memory and sequencing skills, attention, and auditory processing speed. These programs are designed to help students ages 5 and older. It is done on the computer or an iPad- from your home!

Did you know that struggling readers need 10x-30x more practice to catch up to grade-level peers? Unlike other approaches, Fast ForWord is a reading intervention program that is uniquely designed to help pre-readers and struggling readers by directly and intensively targeting what is holding them back. The program begins by improving the underlying cognitive skills associated with reading struggle and then delivers personalized, intensive practice across a wide range of language and reading tasks to help students make rapid improvement that continues long after they are finished with the program.

Intensively Targeting the Skills Struggling Readers Need to Catch Up

Phonological processing
Working memory and sustained attention
Phonemic awareness and phonics
Sequencing
Academic vocabulary and complex grammar
Guided oral reading support

Summer is the perfect time for this intervention program! If you’re interested in learning more about Fast ForWord and how it helps struggling readers improve their skills, let us know! We’re happy to schedule a personal demonstration.

We’re happy to schedule a free personal demonstration.